Spots On Early American Copper-Damage? (1794 Half Cent)

I guess the fact that you say the coin is straight graded by PCGS and has a CAC bean has scared off anyone from posting. That's too bad. I'm curious too.

AFAIK, toning des not occur as black spots on copper coins. Therefore, I'll guess it's environmental damage. That said, professional dealers and graders have already answered your question about market acceptability.

those are usually called carbon spots. sometimes its carbon struck into the coin. sometimes its corrosion from something like water droplets or spittle. its a blemish. I do not know of a way to remove them.

the discerning collector will try to avoid such blemishes. a coin with those marks will sell for less than one without. that said this an a very nice coin. I think most people would be very happy to own such a piece.

i consider the rim bump on the back to be much more detracting than the spots. that would have received a details grade from me.

PCGS and CAC arent early copper specialists. here is an example I posted in another thread. these are the same coin.

that one was upgraded. not by me.

i should add that the copper stock used by the mint was pretty terrible in 1794. Half Cents received the worst of the copper stock. there are a lot of spots and laminations from that time frame. many of the Half Cents were struck from junk, cut down spoiled cents, talbot alum and lee tokens and all manner of poor metal stock.

i beat up on the graders a bit, but really its a problem of inconsistent manufacturing. coin storage has come a long way as well. the fact that any survived as nice as this example is nothing short of a miracle. the humidity in philidelphia alone should have destroyed them all.

your coin is beautiful.

I agree it's a beauty. However, while the CAC sticker provides some downside protection upon resale, I try to avoid these "but for" coins and not be tempted by its other attractive attributes. I would choose a lesser graded example without the blemishes. YMMV.